


A Perfect Disguise

by DroppedAllTheseOreos



Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-08 18:30:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17391449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DroppedAllTheseOreos/pseuds/DroppedAllTheseOreos
Summary: Haima's a little more astute than most people give him credit for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to thank [MarineHaddock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarineHaddock/pseuds/MarineHaddock) for giving me the basis for this idea.

Kagami Haima isn't the director of Seito Hospital for nothing. He worked hard to get where he is and keep up the Kagamis' prestigious reputation. Sure, he's a little scatterbrained and frantic, but he wouldn't be here if he couldn't keep his cool and handle all the responsibilities that came with this position. But it's things like _this_ that reassure his suspicion that Seito employees believe he’s so absent-minded he can't see them when they're messing around.

 _This_ being Kujo Kiriya pulling some other doctor behind a corner at the end of the hall. Faint, rather obscene noises Haima recognizes as passionate kissing follow their disappearance a few seconds later. He sighs as he starts heading down after them. Someone needs to enforce hospital policy around here. Kujo resolutely established that he's not going to follow dress code, so Haima has to at least try to stop him in everything else he wants to break.

There's a pause in the sounds. The two separating with a sharp gasp on the mystery doctor's part and a fond little laugh from Kujo. He can make out some of their conversation as he comes closer down the hall.

"This is a good look on you," Kujo murmurs.

"You think? I feel a little out of place like this..." A masculine voice responds.

Kujo chuckles. "Well, you've got a lab coat, and in my experience around here, that makes you a qualified doctor."

Haima's eyes widen at this new information, who was Kujo with? And what should he do now? Does he keep listening in? Break them up? What then? Immediately question them? This other person is now very obviously not staff. Kujo could probably talk his way out of the situation with plausible enough explanations—

Before Haima can even decide, he instinctively clears his throat as he rounds the corner, the two breaking apart immediately.

"Kujo and...? I don’t believe we’ve met before." He offers a hand, looking to the mystery doctor.

They’re taller than both of them by quite a bit, but at least they’re in the proper attire for being in a medical facility, wearing a muted green button-down tucked into dark gray slacks. But the tie stands out as it’s ostentatiously patterned and colored—bright orange and shades of purple— and their silver-rimmed glasses, lab coat and dark brown hair all tousled and askew throw any professionalism they might’ve had out the window.

Their eyes flick to Kujo for a moment before clearing their throat. "Yanagi Ryuusuke." They take his hand, and Haima shakes it firmly.

"Well, nice to meet you, I wish this was under better circumstances, but I'm sure I don't have to tell you both what you're doing wrong here." He eyes them both with his sternest glare.

Yanagi shoots a more apparent glance over to Kujo this time, it's not exactly nervous, but Haima would definitely describe the look in their eyes as agitated.

"Well, it's probably because of the PDA, right, Director?" Kujo smirks, and Haima can't help but feel exasperated that he's so nonchalant at a time like this.

"Exactly, I shouldn't have to tell you about that, especially since you already seem to understand why I'm not happy with you."

Yanagi still looks on edge, and Haima notices Kujo try to subtlety hold their hand. "Don't worry, Director, we'll try keep it to a more "work appropriate" level. Anything else?"

Haima nods in acknowledgment. "That'll be all. And you better keep to that, Kujo. We’re already letting you slide on dress code."

“I wear the proper thing when I’m actually operating so its fine.” Kujo grins cheekily.

They quickly straighten out their clothes before Haima can argue and Kujo gives him a little goodbye salute as they walk away, both of their hands not-so-subtlety tucked together in the pocket of Yanagi’s coat.

 

After that, Kujo and Yanagi doing general, albeit toned down, couple things become a common sight. Haima would often see them holding hands as they walked around. And he actually decided to give them a few lectures on PDA after catching them kissing in the break room or secluded corners. They’d even be out on the benches sharing lunch when Haima would go out for his daily bakery run for Hiiro.

Which is why it was such a shock when absolutely no one recognized Yanagi when they showed up in the Genm security footage almost two weeks later. Haima’s gaze darts around the room the second he recognizes the gashat thief’s face.

First, it lands on Hiiro, and Haima balks that his son isn’t immediately jumping to his feet to try find Yanagi somewhere in the hospital, since they’d often do other obvious couple-y things with Kiriya in areas Hiiro frequented. His gaze lingers for a few more moments but there‘s no spark of recognition in his son’s eyes. He glances at Poppy next, and he knows she had an extended conversation with Kiriya while the couple was holding hands so out of anyone she wouldn’ve had a clear view of Yanagi’s face. But she seems as bewildered by the situation as Hojo.

And speaking of the intern, he’s still having trouble learning the names and faces of all the staff, so of course, he’s not going to remember Yanagi out of the sea of faces he still doesn't know. He notices a little bit of a recognition pass over Hojo’s face, turning into a struggle to remember, but it quickly fades into resignation as he focuses in on Kuroto’s next words. Haima worries that he’s losing it at the ripe age of 52 because no one in the room is pointing out something so obvious.

He's ready to scream "Does no one recognize Kujo's partner right there?!" but respectfully lets Kuroto finish. He's the director of the hospital, he's got to be in control himself. He tries to justify it to himself in the moment that he’s projecting a familiar face into an unclear image because that’s just what the human brain does.

The brief ends and the trio immediately runs out to apprehend the gashat thief before Haima can say anything, so he focuses on getting confirmation instead.

"Ah Kuroto, before you go, do you mind sending me a photo of the intruder? I'd like to tell the hospital staff to stay on alert and to run if they come around here." Kuroto hesitates a moment, "I'd hate for any of my employees to get hurt unnecessarily. I'm sure you understand and would do the same for any Genm employees." Haima adds.

Kuroto still looks hesitant but quickly covers it with his business smile. "I'll send a copy to your phone immediately, Director."

"Thank you," Haima nods and Kuroto ends the call.

A few moments later, the image comes through. When he opens the attachment, his suspicions are confirmed. It’s blurry, and they may not be wearing the glasses and lab coat, but it's honestly not hard to tell that this is Yanagi; if that’s even their real name. He wonders if glasses really change a person’s face enough for them to be unrecognizable before it’s quickly replaced by worrying if Kujo might've been using their dates as a way to show them around the hospital and how best to attack it.

Kujo _had_ proven himself untrustworthy on more than one occasion, and he was keenly aware that his partner wasn’t medical staff if the conversation Haima stumbled on was any indication. If Kujo was also some kind of agent for the Bugsters and Dark Ex-Aid...

Haima sighed, wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt. Kujo may ignore hospital dress code to a hazardous extent, and everything he's done up til now relating to the Bugsters has been suspect, but he did good work in forensics. And there was currently no hard evidence to have his Rider gear and license revoked. Well, the whole, betraying Hojo just to get a live Bugster thing was hard evidence, but who knew if Kuroto would just hand him another gashat and driver like he did with Hanaya. It was unlikely since Kujo and Kuroto seemed to be at odds, with the whole blackmailing him to get a gashat thing between them, but who knew what was really going on there.

But what he did know about Kujo was stripping him of doctor and Rider privileges probably wouldn't stop him from completing whatever plans he was working on anyway. He'd just find some other way to get there, probably playing with poor Hojo’s emotions in the process.

Until the gashat thief was brought in and the Riders returned to Seito, Haima would just have to hope that Kujo's endgame aligns with CR's. But once this was settled, they‘re going to have a serious talk.


	2. Chapter 2

After the gashat thief incident, CR had a whole new set of problems to figure out. "Who was the true identity of the Dark Ex-Aid?" "What were the Bugsters' plans now?" "Could they trust Kujo?" "What was his relationship with the gashat thief, now confirmed to be Graphite?" With the medical examiner unconscious and no reliable sources to gather information from, it left Haima to figure out the most important question of all:

"Did glasses change a person's face to an unrecognizable point?"

In comparison to the other questions for the rest of CR, this wasn't something paramount to figure out. But to Haima it could mean a world of difference to how they approached dealing with Bugsters. He couldn't do anything to start unraveling the web of secrets tied tightly around game disease. No, it was up to the Riders to go out and fight for the answers. But he would support them by looking for clues in other places. If any of the Bugsters could sneak past CR's eyes with a human form and a pair of glasses, they were in big trouble. And no one else seemed keen on solving this problem, so Haima nobly took it upon himself to gather the pertinent data.

His first set of tests would be with Poppy. Or more specifically, Asuna. Whenever she went to meet with Dr. Kyoutaro, she had a professional outfit she'd costume change into. Most importantly, it had glasses. He knew for a fact Hiiro hadn't seen Asuna's suit yet. Sadly, Hojo was out as a test subject since he'd met Asuna that way, so his data pool was greatly limited. He knows this plan with Hiiro won't be sufficient, and is already worrying about how to expand his search to people outside of CR. After tweaking Hiiro's schedule, he manages to get him in the breakroom while Asuna prepares to go to the Ministry of Health. She already costume changed before Hiiro arrived and Haima intently watches them both, trying his hardest to not seem conspicuous about it. There's silence between them as Asuna makes sure all her necessary files are in place and Hiiro continues to eat his lunch. If he doesn't recognize her, he's giving no hints away.

"I'll be off then." She nods at them both on her way out.

"Poppy Pipopapo," Hiiro says coolly, and Haima nearly chokes on his coffee.

"Yes~!" She singsongs then coughs, returning to her professional disposition. "Hiiro, we've been over this. Please respect my choice to use Asuna in this form," There's an edge in her voice that makes Haima stop and think as the conversation continues in the background.

He considers Graphite and his disguise as "Dr. Yanagi," and wonders if he feels the same as Asuna and Poppy about having dual identities. When he comes back to the moment, the two had already stopped talking. Asuna looks like she's doing all she can to not stomp off as she leaves. Haima belatedly wishes her a safe trip as the door slides shut behind her.

Well, it's time to widen the data pool.

...

He does a brief stint asking if people recognized the woman in the business suit, describing other aspects of Asuna's appearance. His inquiries were met with varying levels of concern. Most answers went along the lines of: "Director Kagami, are you sure you're okay?" and "Um... Karino, yeah? I've seen her in other clothes before."

Haima crossed that investigation off his list and moved onto his second plan.

It was time for _him_ to become a master of disguise.

For the next few days, he wore a fake pair of glasses around, taking note of everyone's responses. And they were, middling, at best. He got a few compliments on them and considered maybe he should make them a permanent part of his wardrobe. But that would have to come later, figuring out Graphite's disguise capabilities was the primary objective here. In terms of actual data, people had some trouble recognizing him at a distance or at first glance. But their hesitation was only a matter of seconds to a minute; nothing like the full standstill that happened with the footage of the gashat heist.

He took into account that the blurriness of the footage was a contributing factor in the confusion, but he had a couple more ideas up his sleeve.

...

"Why am I doing this?" Hiiro uncomfortably adjusted the fake glasses on his nose.

"I need data for something I'm researching." Haima follows him closely with a clipboard, furiously taking notes of every reaction Hiiro gets as he goes about his day.

Hiiro sighs. "And what is that exactly?" A small group of nurses gasp and start whispering excitedly among themselves when they see the glasses on Hiiro.

"I don't have anything conclusive. I'll tell you when there's more data, but it has to do with the Bugsters."

Hiiro stiffens, and he feels a pang of regret for bringing it up. Hiiro had finally attained Level 3, but with that came the knowledge that Graphite was Saki's Bugster. It made Haima even more determined to figure out a way to study his disguises and maybe give the Riders an edge against him.

In the end, the data from the Hiiro experiment was a total bust as well. It might've just been because he was too well known, or this could just be another stack in the mountains of notes already disproving the hypothesis.

At this point, there was only one thing left to do.

Find Graphite.

...

Haima tried keeping a weather eye out for the Bugster, but it seemed like things were silent on their enemies' end at the moment. There hadn't been any attacks or infected patients recently, making the air around Seito feel tense. Like the atmosphere was waiting with bated breath for something to happen. Hojo took the break in fighting to focus in on his internship, Asuna doing the same with her duties; but there was apprehensive energy surrounding them. On the other hand, Hiiro seemed antsy, like he was just waiting for Graphite to show up again so he could strike him down. To further his investigation and to get away from the uneasy atmosphere, Haima started frequenting areas outside of the hospital. He followed the records of where patients had been infected before... But nothing. There was no trace of the Bugsters or Dark Ex-Aid anywhere. So, Haima returned to his regular duties. He still kept an eye out, but his hopes of finding Graphite dwindled to nothing over the week.

Before he left for the night, Haima would briefly check in with the supervisors of each ward. He added a walk around the floors, making sure nothing was awry, to this routine since Zero Day. With the Bugsters potentially prowling about, it didn't hurt to be extra cautious. Just as he was about to finish tonight's rounds, he barely managed to sidestep a door swinging at his face. After stumbling over his feet and regaining his balance, he got ready to scold the person to be more careful. Instead, he freezes, mouth hanging open as Graphite stares back at him through silver-rimmed glasses, also shocked. Haima starts to call for help when Graphite bolts.

"W-wait! Stop right there!"

Haima chases after him down for as long as his stamina holds out, which seems to be more than Graphite was expecting. The Bugster looks over his shoulder, stumbling at the sight of Haima almost hot on his heels, and disappears in a flash of pixels. Haima takes a few more strides before slowing and collapsing forward, hands on his knees as he pants heavily.

He slows his breathing, trying to regulate it, in through the nose, out through the mouth to calm his erratic heartbeat and the faint cramp he feels in his side. When he cools off, he lets out a big sigh, his body calm now, but his thoughts in a whirl. Why was Graphite here in the first place? And what was he doing in a patient room—

_The patients._

Haima dashes back to the open door with all the speed he can muster. When he reaches the room, he peeks inside around the doorframe, making sure nothing is going to attack him. Everything is quiet except for the breathing of sleeping patients and the low hum of equipment they're attached to. He briefly thinks of calling one of the Riders to help, but if he waits for back-up, there's no telling what could happen to the patients. He types out a quick message to Hiiro, but thinks better of it given the identity of Graphite's host. Deciding Hojo might be the best person to call, he copies it over into a message for the intern. With the text sent, he enters as silently as possible, not wanting to disturb the patients or alert potential enemies to his presence. 

He checks the two beds at the far end of the room first. One seems empty, and he crouches to look under it just to be sure. Then he takes a game scope from his pocket just in case there's a patient in dire need of help, and they've become transparent. He covers the bell with his hand to muffle the inevitable beeps and sucks in a nervous breath. The game scope scans, and he nervously waits for the diagnosis. After a moment, the holographic screen confirms there's nothing. He sighs relievedly, but his work isn't done yet.

The next bed has a curtain around it, and he pulls it aside to see a young man, fast asleep. The pronounced shadows under his eyes and sallow complexion give Haima the impression he could be a university student that collapsed from over studying. Haima treads extra carefully as he inspects the space for anything abnormal. So he doesn't disturb the patient, he makes sure to wrap the edge of his lab coat around the scope to further muffle it. When he's assured everything is alright here, he moves onto the bed across the room and sees an elderly man. He vaguely remembers this patient had been in the hospital for a while after collapsing from some unidentified sickness. He had some heart complications on top of the problem, so it was likely he'd be here for a while. Haima explores a little less cautiously since the man seems to be a heavy sleeper. When his investigation turns up nothing suspicious, he wants to breathe a sigh of relief, but it just sets him even more on edge.

It'd be so easy to believe everything was going to be okay, that Graphite being here was just some weird coincidence or a mistake. But he knows he has one more patient to check and he's afraid of what might be waiting for him. He pulls aside the last curtain and stumbles back. It's Kujo.

There's no doubt about it, Graphite must've come to see Kujo. He can't fathom why, but it's the only logical explanation. The blankets are messy, as if someone pulled them down and hastily tucked him back in. But there would be no reason to do that, since the virus doesn't need to be injected. Graphite wouldn't even need to touch him if he had a Bugvisor. Supposedly, Kujo had done something that set off Dark Ex-Aid, so Graphite's visit could've been to shut him up for good. As he looks, more and more suspicious things keep stacking up about this scene. With shaking hands, he hits the button to scan.

Anyone who's had the compatibility surgery is technically a carrier for the virus but the scopes are relatively new. Their ability to recognize the virus isn't sensitive enough for those trace amounts. It's also the reason why they usually can't find patients until they're on the verge of or actually displaying symptoms. But it also means if Kujo's been infected by Graphite, it will definitely be enough to show up.

He waits for confirmation with bated breath and...

The screen flashes with an all clear.

Haima's face creases with a perplexed and distressed expression. He looks up at the monitors and sees all his vitals reading as normal, but he doesn't trust them. With slightly trembling fingers, he reaches out for Kujo's pulse point. The skin there seems warm, but for a moment there's nothing and Haima sucks in a nervous breath. He readjusts his position and the artery throbs against his fingertips. He lets out the breath he was holding relievedly. He backs out of the room and finishes his walk in a daze. What should've been a simple investigation brought up even more questions. He collapses into a chair in the waiting room, and Hojo stumbles in through the front doors. He runs up to Haima and asks if everything's all right. He fills Hojo in on everything he saw, and the intern's face falls when he hears Graphite came for Kujo.

Hojo tries to discuss it, get more answers out of Haima, reiterate points to wrap his head around it. But Haima just couldn't get into the conversation, Hojo's questions a low buzz in the background of his confused thoughts. The intern eventually drops it, heading down to CR to stay the night, just in case anything else happens.

The next few days ran without incident until Kujo, Hojo and Poppy came to CR, carting the old man he was sharing the room with. Turned out he did have Bugster virus, and Hojo was convinced that it was Graphite. Haima let him think that, but something didn't sit right with him about that conclusion.

Something was missing, but he wasn't sure what.

...

After all the Riders achieved Level 3, Haima sits at the breakroom table defeatedly as he watches Asuna and Hojo chat amiably. She's heading out to the Ministry of Health, looking stylish and composed in her business suit. Even though he knows they met with her in that outfit, he notes how Hojo seems to recognize her just fine. There's no hesitation or second guessing, Hojo knows it's her. This exercise just served to prove all of them can do the brain work required to know it's Asuna, simple as that. And it's making him wonder why Graphite's disguise worked so well.

'Maybe it's just a Bugster thing.' He concludes.

At least, that's what he wanted to conclude this investigation on. He figured there wouldn't be enough data to make a definitive statement. But now he can't even say that! Asuna is a glaring demonstration of what should be the logical conclusion to this whole thing: 'Of course, people should still be recognizable with glasses. Even if they're a little harder to recognize with or without them at first, they're still the same person.'

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. He has to conclude this examination with:

'Graphite is an anomaly, even by Bugster standards.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone curious about Graphite's nefarious purposes for this hospital visit, he was checking in on his unconscious bf and holding his hand, maybe sneaking some 'get well' forehead kisses, until he heard someone walking around outside.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't until a year after the Bugster epidemic was over that Haima sees "Yanagi Ryuusuke" again. He finds him, surprisingly alone for once, in the hospital waiting room. Yanagi is finally wearing a different outfit, something more akin to the gashat heist one, but much less... suspicious looking. It actually had colors other than black and grey for one; and the enigmatic, potentially face-changing glasses made their return. Looking back, encountering Yanagi in the same doctor's clothes made more sense now that he knew it was a Bugster disguise rather than the sheer coincidence of running into him in the same outfit again and again. It also made the fact that no one else in CR seemed to pick up on it all the more bewildering but, the past was the past. Haima was resigned that he'd never figure that one out.

"It's been a while, good to see you again, Yanagi."

The man startles at his words.

"You know who I am, right?" His eyes narrow suspiciously.

Haima glances around to see if anyone's paying them any attention. When the coast seems clear, he leans in a little closer to mumble, "Of course, but I'm not going to announce that you're a Bugster to all of the hospital. That would cause more trouble than it'd be worth, and if you were going to start anything, you would've done it by now."

He seems genuinely surprised, then bites his lip apprehensively.

"Um, thanks? And, well, if you're going to use my alias... 'Yanagi' isn't exactly accurate anymore." He takes a breath, a small smile tugging at the edges of his lips. "It's Kujo now."

Haima's eyes instinctively flick to Yanagi's hand, and a silver band with an inlay of small, green jewels gleams back up at him. It takes all of his self-control to not scream in pure shock right then and there. From Yana— _Kujo's_ face, he can tell that control isn't extending to his facial muscles.

He watches as his expression shifts from defensive and agitated to something slightly perturbed and finally settling on concerned. Haima can feel his jaw trembling as it hangs open. He tries to close it or form words, anything. He's sure he looks like a fish, or something equally ridiculous because of his efforts to save some kind of face. He's the director of the hospital, dammit, he should have some dignity, people got engaged and married all the time, no big deal. But also this was _Kujo_ and _Graphite_ —

"Um... Dr. Kagami?" He starts awkwardly. "Are you—"

"Congratulations!" Haima suddenly shouts, and eyes from all over the waiting room turned to them.

Haima looks around self-consciously and lowers his voice to a more acceptable volume, "Um, congratulations." He clears his throat as the people in the room slowly turn their attention away. "I'm happy for you two. Truly. You and Kujo just seemed to be more of the, ehh, solitary type. I didn't expect—"

Fortunately, Ryuusuke (he'd have to call them both by their first names now if Graphite was in disguise, what a concept) saves him from any further embarrassment by cutting him off with a sharp "Thank you."

A heavy awkwardness settles over them, both struggling to keep the conversation going or find a polite way to end it and retreat.

"Hey, Ryuu— oh, Director." Kiriya's voice cuts through the stifling atmosphere.

They both turn to look at him as he steps into their space and wraps an arm around Ryuusuke's waist.

"Dr. Kujo." Haima greets with a nod.

"Is there something you need my husband for? We were gonna go out for lunch."

Haima can't help a second surprised look from taking over his face. Even though he's become thoroughly aware of that knowledge, it still hasn't reduced how shocking it is to hear. But he also feels a partial smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"I was just congratulating him on your marriage."

Kiriya's eyebrow quirks for a moment, but then he's all smiles. "Aw, thanks, Director."

"Just make sure this," he waggles a finger between them. "Doesn't distract you from your work."

Kiriya just laughs and pulls Ryuusuke tighter against him. "Don't worry, I got this."

Haima tries to give them a stern look, but his smile keeps cutting through. "I'll hold you to it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought this story was over, but a couple more ideas struck me so here's the last of them. This was a fun little thing to work on and I hope you all enjoyed it as well! Thank you for reading!


End file.
